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Not by thoughts alone: How language supersizes the cognitive toolkit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2012

Hans IJzerman  and
Francesco Foroni
Hans IJzerman
Affiliation:
Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg School of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands. h.ijzerman@uvt.nlhttp://h.ijzerman.googlepages.com
Francesco Foroni
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. f.foroni@uu.nl
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Abstract

We propose that Vaesen's target article (a) underestimates the role of language in humans' cognitive toolkit and thereby (b) overestimates the proposed cognitive discontinuity between chimps and humans. We provide examples of labeling, numerical computation, executive control, and the relation between language and body, concluding that language plays a crucial role in “supersizing humans' cognitive toolkit.”

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , August 2012 , pp. 226 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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